Appreciation
by Birdyyy
Summary: Sally Jackson had attended to her son ever since he was born. Percy has never realized how hard she's worked, until he reads a chain mail. Multiple one shots of Sally and Percy.
1. Email

**Author's Notes: This is a multiple chapter fic. I will post the second chapter in a few days, but I'll have a snippet of the next chapter at the end of this chapter. Please review. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

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Percy sighed as he plopped himself into his favorite spinning chair, located in front of his desk. He turned on the computer that faced him. The monitor made whirring noises, as it came to life, and he contemplated how _his_ life was, as he was now in the swim team and in his second last year of high school.

He was still with Annabeth, and regularly saw all of his old camp friends, despite the fact that he had a ton of work to do now that he was in his junior year.

Of course, he still preferred to leave everything to the last-minute, which led to many a scolding and plenty of lectures from Annabeth, and many glassy-eyed stares from Percy as he imagined a world where everything was exactly the same, except there was no Annabeth ranting in front of him.

And every single time he awoke from his daydreaming, Annabeth was still pacing in front of him, holding a ruler in her hand, obviously wanting to smack him with it.

The computer's desktop flashed an ocean-blue color as it came to life, and he stared at it, and put the mouse through a series of clicks so he could read his email.

The demigods still preferred not to use cell phones, as monsters could track them, and now used email much more often.

Chiron even had a few computers installed in the Big House, despite the rule of having no contact with the outside world.

The demigods still didn't use cell phones to communicate, but email was one way they kept in touch.

Percy also had this weird obsession to always check his email every single time a new email came up. Perhaps it had to do with wanting to stall homework and slack off. He wasn't really sure, though. Whatever it was, he always had to check his email.

He had a several emails, waiting for him in the inbox, and most of them were advertising, attempting to trick him into buying more ambrosia or nectar, and swords with new designs from the Cyclopes under the sea.

As far as he was concerned, he had plenty of the food of the gods, and Riptide was a wonderful sword.

The other emails were updates from other demigods, and he tapped at the keys, and the room was soon filled with soft clicking sounds.

With his task of staying in touch with the other half-bloods complete, he checked his watch for what time it was and in his head, swore in ancient Greek.

He was supposed to hand in a LA essay online in ten minutes, and as usual, he hadn't even started on it.

Quickly, he tapped out a title on the book he was supposed to have read and quickly opened up a web browser to research it.

Just as he had opened up the Wikipedia page about it and had started to copy the article, his incoming mail alarm sounded.

_Beep_

Percy groaned. He always had to check his email once he received something new, and there was no way he was going to finish this stupid essay in time, either.

He reopened his email, and checked it.

A new forward was waiting in his inbox, sent by Grover. It was titled, 'Appreciate Your Mom'.

Fwd: Appreciate Your Mom

Another forward. Percy clicked on it, and a long list of lines came up. He scanned his eyes down, and read the first one.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Okay, so that's the first part. Like I said, I'm going to post the second chapter in a few days. Please review! The chapter is divided into multiple parts. And the snippet I promised is actually a part of one of these parts. Which is the first part of the part of the next chapter. **

_**When you came into the world, she held you in her arms. You thanked her by wailing like a banshee.**_

_**"Wahhhhh! Wahhhh!" cried the newborn. The wing of the hospital was full of babies, expectant mothers, experienced doctors and nurses, and of course, the anxious father who would be running his hands through his hair, shifting from foot to foot while he waited for his offspring to take his or her first breath.**_

_**Sally Jackson, on the other hand, had no one.**_

_**And she believed that she didn't need anyone.**_

_**She had believed this ever since she had first found herself to be pregnant, to the time she gave birth. Which was about half an hour ago.**_

_**'She was going to be independent in raising her son. She didn't need any help. She was going to do this by herself,' she had told herself, over and over again.**_

_**But she still was worried, worried about the challenge she had before her.**_


	2. Childhood Years

**Author's Notes: Okay, so here's the second chapter... These flashback moments in between the lines aren't any of Percy's thoughts or memories. They're just... flashbacks. And I want to thank the person whoever started this forward, because it gave me this idea for this fanfic. I also particularly dislike the 8 years old one, because it's so unlike Sally. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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_**When you came into the world, she held you in her arms.  
You thanked her by wailing like a banshee.**_

"Wahhhhh! Wahhhh!" cried the newborn. The wing of the hospital was full of babies, expectant mothers, experienced doctors and nurses, and of course, the anxious father who would be running his hands through his hair, shifting from foot to foot while he waited for his offspring to take his or her first breath.

Sally Jackson, on the other hand, had no one.

And she believed that she didn't need anyone.

She had believed this ever since she had first found herself to be pregnant, to the time she gave birth. Which was about half an hour ago.

'_She was going to be independent in raising her son. She didn't need any help. She was going to do this by herself,' _she had told herself, over and over again.

But she still was worried, she was nervous about the challenge she had before her.

She cuddled the newborn baby, and hugged the boy tightly, and watched him as he wailed. Unlike the other mothers in the wing, she let the baby cry for a few moments, absolutely content, as she was happy that he was strong enough to cry, and wasn't weak and feeble.

His eyes were closed, but she knew what color eyes he would have. A beautiful bright green, and they would also be mesmerizing, like the blue-green color of the ocean you would see when you went to the beach, and the waves would race each other to the beach, leaving a trail of foamy white bubbles when they retreated.

They would look just like the ocean.

Just like it.

'_The ocean,' _Sally mused. _'That was what had started all of this.'_

'_Poseidon would be so proud, so happy_…' she thought to herself, hugging the bundle closer to her.

She tightened her grip around the baby, and whispered, "I love you…"

His screeching subsided, and he tilted his head back, and looked up at his mother.

And his eyes opened for the first time.

Green met hazel, and the mother whispered out a name. "Percy. That is your name, and I hope that some of his luck will be passed down to you."

And then she fell asleep, exhausted while the bright green eyes kept watching his mother's pretty face.

* * *

_**When you were 1 year old, she fed you and bathed you.  
**__**You thanked her by crying all night long.**_

"Percy? It's time for your dinner!" Sally Jackson called out.

A little boy with tufts of black hair sticking at different angles from his head crawled around from the couch.

"Gah ga, gah ga," he said over and over again.

Sally's long brown hair fell into her face, and Percy crawled toward her and reached for the dangling trails with pudgy hands.

"Come on Percy, it's time for dinner. Mommy needs to feed you now."

Sally looked at the boy with amusement, and picked him up, while he squirmed in her arms, trying to escape. As she walked to the table, she sang to him, an old song that she remembered that her parents sang to her when she was little.

The bags under her eyes were evident, as she half-watched, half-fed Percy. It was obvious that she had been experienced many sleepless nights, ever since her child had been born, constantly having to trudge to his crib after his cries awoke her.

After dinner…

"Oh dear, Percy… Look at you; you're a complete mess. You're going to have to take a bath!"

Percy squirmed in her arms again, but not because he wanted to get away, but because he loved to take baths, and Sally assumed that this was because that he was a son of Poseidon, after all.

Even Later…

"All right Percy, it's time for you to go to bed." She gently set him down into his crib, where a few stuffed animals were placed. A dolphin and a fish watched over him while she walked away from his crib.

"Wahhhhh! Wahhhhh!"

Sally sighed. The crying had started again. She padded back to the crib, and gently grasped Percy, pulling him out of the crib. Then she sat in the rocking chair that was by the crib and gently began to sing to him again.

* * *

_**When you were 2 years old, she taught you to walk.**_  
_**You thanked her by running away when she called.**_

Sally Jackson often wondered when her son would begin to walk. Sure, he had shown a few signs of the beginning stages of learning to walk for the past few months, but they had always been unsuccessful.

Today, she began looking for him so they could go to the park, with her pushing the stroller while he waved his fists in the air and gazed at the world around him with wide eyes.

She looked around for him, and couldn't find him anywhere. Slightly amused at the fact that her child was becoming excellent at hiding, she searched all over the shabby apartment.

When she couldn't find him, she sat down in the rocking chair and sighed, gently pushing her feet off the ground to start the rocking. And then, her little boy crawled from behind the door toward her, and then got up onto his feet, taking a few stumbling steps.

Sally gasped in astonishment; her baby boy was taking his first steps!

She quickly hurried toward him to make sure he didn't fall, and when he stumbled, she was there to catch him.

She held him tight, and gazed at him with proud eyes. He blinked a few times, and tilted his head.

Maybe she wouldn't need to take the stroller to the park, after all.

Later…

"Percy! Come back!" Sally yelled.

He was trying to run away from her, absolutely ecstatic that he could walk and run, and was currently stumbling across the rough ground every few steps.

He reached the steps that led to the fountain in the middle of the park and when he took the first step, he stumbled.

"PERCY!" his mother yelled out.

He turned around to see Sally frantically running towards him and was about to fall flat on his face before his mother caught him around the waist.

"Oh my goodness. Percy. You gave me such a scare," she told over and over again, her heart thudding while his innocent face looked at her.

She led him out to the grass, where he looked at it doubtfully, not wanting to step on it.

She laughed.

"Come on, Percy. Grass isn't really spiky, it's soft, and… green?"

He looked at her, with those wide eyes.

Green. Just like his eyes.

She plucked a piece of grass and had Percy hold out his hand. She placed it in his hand, and he flinched, as though expecting it to be sharp.

Sally smiled at him and led him out onto the grass, where they sat under a tree, admiring the pretty amber-gold color of the leaves on the tree.

* * *

_**When you were 3 years old, she made all your meals with love.**_  
_**You thanked her by tossing your plate on the floor.**_

"Percy!" Sally Jackson called for her son, "Dinner's ready!"

Her son waddled toward her; away from the wooden blocks he'd been trying so hard to assemble into a tower.

His last attempt lay in a jumbled heap, lying around a few stacked bricks.

Percy scowled at her mother, wanting to go back to building his tower.

Sally sighed in exasperation. "Percy! Come here!"

"No!" came the little boy's retort.

Sally muttered something about taking away the blocks until after dinner, and walked to her son and picked him up.

"No! No! Me want to go build!" he yelled as he thrashed in his mother's arms like a fish caught in a net.

"Percy!" she rebuked, "You must eat dinner now!"

"No!" he shouted again.

Sally sighed, and sat him down in his high chair. He grabbed at the plate of food and began to eat with his fingers.

Sally watched him, making sure that he wouldn't choke on anything. She loved her son, she really did, but there were times when she would just get so frustrated at him.

Percy continued to shove food down his throat, his lips splattered with green and gooey baby food.

She stopped paying attention as she thought about her writing classes, thinking about how it would be when she finally published a book, not paying attention while Percy's bowl began to slide closer and closer to the side of the high chair.

_Clatter_

Sally Jackson awoke from her daydreams with a start, and saw Percy's fat fists smeared with the goo, and the bowl on the ground, the floor around splattered with the baby food.

"Percy, why don-" she began rebuking him and then realized that it wasn't fair for him. She sighed, and patted her little boy on the head, and began to clean up the mess.

Percy watched her in his high chair, and licked the mushy green paste off of his chubby fists.

_Thank goodness the bowl was plastic_, Sally Jackson thought. If it were ceramic, she'd have to pay for it with what little money they had.

She cleaned the mess, and gave Percy a hug.

"Oh, Percy… I'm so sorry I yelled at you…" she murmured into his ear. Percy let out a burp, and crawled out of her hands to play with the wooden blocks again.

* * *

_**When you were 4 years old, she gave you some markers.**_  
_**You thanked her by coloring the dining room table.**_

They were at home, but were planning to go to the toy store, and Sally Jackson was treating her son to the rare gift.

"Percy! What do you want?" she had asked him that morning.

"Markers!" he chirped back, green eyes bright and cheerful.

"All right, sweetie," she told him, "Why don't we go to the toy store after lunch and buy them?"

The little boy nodded enthusiastically as Sally picked him up in her arms and twirled him around the room, his bubbling laughter putting a pretty smile on her tired face.

Now, they were back at the apartment, with Percy coloring away at some pieces of recycled paper.

"Percy?" his mother said, "What are you drawing?"

"The sea," he told her, "I drew many different colored fishies!"

She smiled, and patted his head, watching him draw. She left him scribbling away at his picture so she could cook their dinner.

Later…

"Percy! What did you do?"

"I thought that the table was too brown. So I colored it!"

"Perce! It was fine the way it was before! Why did you do it?" she asked him.

"Because it didn't have any colors on it," he replied.

Sally sighed. The little boy had drawn hundreds of fish on her table with his beloved markers.

She wished that she had the money to pay it off, but she didn't. She supposed that the table would have to stay that way, covered in those hundreds of fish.

She needed to make sure that he didn't do it again.

"Percy!" she called.

"Yes Mommy?" he asked, waddling out to her.

I need to talk to you.

And she sat him down in her lap while she explained why he shouldn't have done it.

"So do you understand why I was angry?"

"Yes Mommy," and he looked at her with his father's big green eyes.

Her heart seemed to melt, and her tone softened as she told him, "Go to your room, Perce. And no matter how angry I get at you, always remember that I love you."

He nodded, and obediently trotted away to his room, with his pack of new markers in his back pocket.

Sally smiled as she watched his retreating back.

* * *

_**When you were 5 years old, she dressed you for the holidays.**_  
_**You thanked her by plopping into the nearest pile of mud.**_

"There you go Percy. All dressed up and ready for Christmas," Sally Jackson told her son. "We're going to go and take a walk around the park now," and they headed out of the apartment, dressed in gloves and scarves and coats, ready to tackle the chilly air outside.

Percy ran ahead, while his mother kept a careful eye on him. They saw the green treetops of the trees in the park, and Percy ran even more ahead, disappearing from his mother's view.

"Percy!" she yelled, and ran after him, coat flapping in the wind.

When she found him, he was in a pile of mud, happily playing in it. He sat down on it with a plop and picked up a handful of the freezing mud and squeezed it, mud gently coming out between his fingers.

Sally muttered something under her breath, and pulled Percy out of the mud.

"Percy, we're going home. Right now," she told him firmly.

"No! I want to stay here and play!" he yelled back.

"Percy. Don't argue. Just come."

Percy opened his mouth, ready to tell back talk to his mother, but then stopped after a glare from his mother.

He sullenly got to his feet and left the mud puddle.

"Come on Percy, let's go home," his mother murmured.

* * *

_**When you were 6 years old, she walked you to school.**_  
_**You thanked her by screaming, "I'M NOT GOING!"**_

"Percy! I've signed you up for school!" Sally Jackson slammed the apartment and called to her now six-year old son, who had just celebrated his birthday a few days ago.

Percy came running to his mother and wrapped his arms right around her waist.

"School?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Yes, school, Percy," she replied.

"Do I have to?" he asked as he tilted his head questioningly.

"Yes," she told him firmly, looking straight into his eyes.

"But… I don't want to!" he yelled, his hands curling into fists and his shoulders tensed.

"You'll have to," Sally told him.

His green eyes looked into her face, and her heart seemed to melt into a giant puddle of warmth.

"But Mommy…"

"Yes, sweetie?" she asked him.

"I just feel like when I go into school… Everyone else won't like me…" he murmured, not looking at Sally.

Her expression softened, and she drew Percy closer, gently cradling him in her arms.

"Percy. It'll be all right. If the other kids don't like you, then that's because they don't truly know you, they don't know how kind and sweet you are. How wonderful, how so much like your father you are…" Sally Jackson trailed off at the thought of his father.

"My father?" Percy asked, rather confused at why all of this was connected to his father.

"Your father," his mother repeated.

"Will you tell me about him?" he asked innocently, the green eyes staring at her, asking her questions that she'd rather never think of again.

"I'll tell you," and Percy drew a breath of excitement, eyes even wider than before. "But not today, Percy. One day, when you're old enough," her face creased with worry and love. "Now let's go to school."

* * *

_**When you were 7 years old, she bought you a baseball.**_  
_**You thanked her by throwing it through the next-door-neighbor's windo**_w.

"Percy!" Sally Jackson yelled. "I'm home!"

The boy came running out, and gave his mother a hug.

"What's in the bag?" he asked Sally.

His mother opened the bag to reveal a bat, a baseball, and a catcher's mitt.

"Thank you Mommy!" Percy beamed and began tossing the baseball around.

"Don't swing the bat around the house, okay Percy?" Sally cautiously said.

"Of course I won't!" he told her, and promptly ran outside to play baseball.

**An Hour Later...**

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Danielson, it will never happen again," Sally Jackson told the elderly lady who lived on the floor below them (they lived on the 2nd floor of the apartment building).

"It better not," she growled at her.

"Percy, say you're sorry," Sally told the boy.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Danielson for breaking your window," Percy muttered, scuffing his shoe in circles on the ground.

"Mrs. Danielson, I'll send you the check for the window in a few hours," Sally promised the elderly lady as she backed away from the door.

As soon as the door was closed, she began rebuking Percy.

"Why did you do that? Why?"

"Because."

"Because?"

"It was an accident?"

"Percy. Please don't do it again, okay? Just don't do it again," she told him.

"Okay," he muttered back.

They climbed the stairs to the 2nd floor in silence. Sally unlocked the door and steered the boy in by the shoulder.

"Percy."

"Yes, Mommy?"

"Go to your room and do your homework."

And the boy slunk into his room, without turning back.

* * *

_**When you were 8 years old, she handed you an ice cream.**_  
_**You thanked her by dripping it all over your lap.**_

"Percy! I got you Ben and Jerry's ice cream!" Sally Jackson yelled as she walked back to her son in the park. She handed the cookie dough ice cream to her son.

"Thank you Mom!" he told her, eagerly snatching the cone.

Sally Jackson sat back on the park bench and watched her son happily lick away at the ice cream.

She drifted off, vaguely watching Percy get ice cream all over his face. She remembered the times she had taken Percy to the beach, and she taught him how to swim. It was easy, as he was son of Poseidon, and he learned to swim only minutes after he had gotten into the water, soon shooting back and forth across the waves. She remembered how the water had seemed so calm and gentle, as though Percy's father knew that his son was in the water, and was deliberately making it calmer for him.

Then she felt something cold on her lap.

She looked down.

Drips of ice cream were on the pants that had been passed down in her family, the pants that her grandmother had given to her mother, and in turn, had given to her. Sally Jackson.

"Percy!" she yelled.

He looked at her, slightly tilting his head.

"Why is there ice cream on my pants?" she demanded.

"Because I accidentally spilled some," he muttered quietly.

Sally shook her head in exasperation.

"Percy, please be more careful next time, okay?"

"Okay Mom… And… and I'm sorry Mom," he murmured softly.

She gently took her head into her hand, and whispered to him, "It's alright, Percy… It's okay."

He tilted his head and looked at his mother.

"Let's go home now, okay honey?"

"Okay."

And they walked home, hand-in-hand, with Percy still licking away at the ice cream.

* * *

**_When you were 9 years old, she paid for piano lessons._**  
**_You thanked her by never even bothering to practice._**

"I think you need to take piano lessons," Sally told her son.

"Um… piano?" Percy asked.

"Piano," Sally repeated.

"Um… why?"

"Um… because your music teacher at school says that you should."

"Fine," Percy sighed.

"We don't have enough money to hire a teacher, but there's a piano downstairs in the lobby, and I can teach you," Sally told him.

"Okay," Percy muttered.

Later…

"Okay, Percy. It's not C, E, G, B, but C, E, G, high C," Sally lectured her son, as he repeatedly banged his head against the piano keys.

The old piano let out a few strangled cries that echoed for a moment around the lobby and then died.

"Why are you making me do this again?," he muttered.

Sally sighed, "Try again, Percy."

The next day…

"Perce, are you going to practice tonight?" Sally asked without looking up from the book she was reading.

The boy slammed the door, obviously in a bad mood after several long hours of being stuck in a desk in classrooms.

"No," he muttered.

"No?" Sally questioned, settling the book across her lap.

"No," he repeated, kicking the door.

"Apologize to the door."

He sighed, and muttered, "Sorry."

Sally sighed. "Please practice Percy. I don't want to have wasted my time on teaching you."

"I'd rather not."

"Okay, fine, don't practice tonight. Practice tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine."

The next day…

Sally popped a piece of fruit into her mouth. "So, are you going to practice the piano tonight, Perce?"

"Mom, can I please not?" Percy whined.

"Percy, please go practice, now."

"Okay, fine."

And the sound of a door being slammed could be heard throughout the entire apartment.

Sally sighed, and continued eating her fruit.

'_When will he realize that I'm doing this for him?'_ she wonders.

* * *

_**When you were 10 years old, she drove you all day, from soccer to gymnastics to one birthday party after another. You thanked her by jumping out of the car and never looking back.**_

"Mom?" Percy tentatively asked.

"Yes, Percy?" Sally Jackson responded, not bothering to look up from the story she was typing out on the computer.

"Can you please drive me to a birthday party in two days?"

Sally looked away from the screen. It was unusual for Percy to be invited to a party. He'd always been excluded, always walking the halls of his school alone. She hoped that this friend would make Percy feel happier.

"Sure. What's his name?"

"Michael."

"What's he like?"

"Really nice, and we're in the same class in school."

"Okay, let's go get a present tomorrow for your friend tomorrow."

**Two Days Later...**

Sally and Percy walked side by side, heading to Percy's friend's apartment. Sally held a bag in her hand, inside was a brightly wrapped present.

It was spring, and the flowers were once again blooming, showing their vibrant colors to the world. The trees had new delicate bright green buds. The sweet spring air was full of the sound of birds chirping.

While Sally noticed all this, while Percy was bubbling with excitement, absolutely thrilled that he had been invited to a party.

Skipping ahead of his mother, he tapped each lamppost that he passed and Sally followed, also skipping with a slight smile of amusement, her hair falling into her face.

"I beat you!" Percy yelled as he touched the front door of his friend's apartment building. Sally laughed lightly, grabbing Percy by the shoulders to give him a hug.

"Mo-om!" he protested, trying to escape from Sally's grasp.

Once they made it to Percy's friend's floor, (they lived on the 6th floor with no elevator in the building) they were both panting and gasping for breath.

The door was adorned with balloons and streamers, and Percy eagerly pressed the doorbell.

Shouts of, "He's here!" rang out through from behind the doorbell, and many feet rushed toward the door.

The door opened, many excited faces started at Percy and his mother.

One boy with a birthday hat perched on his head pulled Percy into the room.

"Hi Mrs. Jackson!" Michael exclaimed.

"Hi Michael," Sally beamed.

"The party ends in three hours, so you can pick me up then, okay, Mom?" Percy interjected.

"Goodbye Per-" Sally managed to say before the door was slammed in her face.

**A Few Days Later...**

"Mom, can you take me to a soccer game?" Percy asked.

"Soccer game?" Sally wondered, opening the oven door and sliding the cookie tray inside it.

"Yeah, a soccer game." Percy sat on a stool, and began spinning on it.

"Are you going with a friend?"

"Yeah, Michael."

Sally briefly thought of the tall boy with a mop of black hair and piercing blue eyes.

"All right. When does it start, when does it end, and where is it?" Sally asked him.

"You just have to drop me off at Michael, and then you pick me up in three hours, 'cause I'm going to stay at his place for a while afterwards. And it's tomorrow."

"Okay, that sounds reasonable," Sally murmured, using her dough covered hands to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, "Now, do you want these cookies the normal way, or the abnormal way?"

"Normal way, duh."

"Okay, now help me find the blue food coloring."

**Later...**

"Hi Michael!" Percy chirped, eagerly greeting his friend.

"Hey Percy!" Michael pulled his friend into the room, "Mrs. Jackson, you're going to come back for him in three hours, okay?"

Sally nodded.

"I'll see you soon Percy!" she called.

Her son didn't look back.

And the door slammed on her face.

She mentally winced.

Sally walked down the stairs with stumbling feet, wondering what she'd done so that her son wouldn't tell her a simple thank you, or goodbye. The smallest things matter the most. The little signs that your child loves you. Those are what every mother treasures.

And those signs aren't what Sally Jackson is getting.

And she wishes that her son would just take the time to say 'goodbye'. Just one. One would be enough.

But wishes aren't always enough.

* * *

_**When you were 11 years old, she took you and your friends to the movies.**_  
_**You thanked her by asking to sit in a different row.**_

They were sitting on an old, battered couch, watching television while eating their dinner.

"Mom? Can I go to the movies with a friend tomorrow?" Percy suddenly asked through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Sure. You're going with Michael?" Sally swallowed a mouthful of peas.

"Yeah."

"Okay, do you want me to come?"

"Nah, its okay-Michael's mom's coming," Percy swallowed the lie and washed it down with a sip of blue coke.

In retrospect, this lie would've been something Percy would easily forget the next day.

If Sally knew, she would've marveled at how easily and how often kids lied now.

And it would've torn her to pieces.

* * *

_**When you were 12 years old, she warned you not to watch certain TV shows.**_  
_**You thanked her by waiting until she left the house.**_

"Can I watch SAW tonight?" Percy Jackson asked his mom.

"SAW?"

"SAW."

"The violent movie in which people end up cutting themselves a lot?"

"Um. Yeah. Anything wrong with that?" Percy wondered aloud.

"Yes."

"Like… what?"

"I don't want you to have bad influences. You're only _12_," she told him, putting an emphasis on his age.

"Yeah, but I've seen so much more worse on my quest!" he insisted.

"No," Sally firmly repeated.

"Okay, fine," he muttered, "I won't watch it."

"Good," Sally shoved her hands into her pocket, trying to find her wallet. "I'm going to the supermarket, okay Perce? I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Okay," he muttered, sliding his hand under the pillow for the remote, slyly waiting until the door was slammed shut until he turned the television set on.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed this, and I'll post the next chapter in a few weeks because I haven't started on it yet. Please review!**


	3. Teenage Years

**_Author's Notes:_ It's been five long months since I last updated this story. I honestly never really realized that it's been that long. And it's been three months since I posted anything at all. I need to stop being so lazy. However I do have some rather sad excuses, such as:**  
**1) I had to leave for an honor band festival in January and before that, our teacher made us practice a lot.**  
**2) I had to travel in February.**  
**3) I am a very lazy person and that is a problem that will never be solved. And I had a lot of homework.**  
**Hope you like it, I feel like the style of writing has changed a little bit, however I'm not too sure about that.**  
**And I feel like I made Percy look like a jerk, but we've all been rude to our parents at one point or another in life. **  
**I've done some things to make him look not as big of a jerk. And the writing is a little bit rushed and hasn't been edited all that thoroughly. Just so you know.**

**_Disclaimer:_ I don't own any recognizable content. **

******-Birdyyy **

******

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**

_**Chapter 3 Teenage Years

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**_

**When you were 13, she suggested some clothes that were becoming.  
You thanked her by telling she had no taste.**

Percy idly ran his hand over a few stacks of pants. Annoyed that his mother had forced him to come out on a Saturday, he angrily thought about how he could have been playing games on the computer, chewing on that slice of delicious cheesy pizza while washing it down with some blue coke.

Instead, he was here. In a shopping mall. He'd never really felt at home in one, mostly because it felt as though he was defenseless and vulnerable because of the wide open space. Or maybe he was just paranoid.

He remembered how his mother had told him that she was going to the mall to buy him some new pants. Percy remembered how she had asked him if he had wanted to come, just as he was about to lose.

He remembered how annoyed he had been that he had been disturbed from his game, and had turned around in a fit of rage and had yelled, "No Mom! Don't go and get me pants. You don't have any taste anyway!"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, he had turned his head away, too ashamed to tell her, "I'm sorry," or see the look of sorrow that he knew would be facing him if he glanced at her face.

And now he was in this shopping mall, leaning against a shelf in a store. Wishing that he'd apologized to his mother.

* * *

**When you were 14, she paid for a month away at summer camp.  
You thanked her by forgetting to write a single letter.**

"Um… Mom?"

Sally Jackson turned around to look at her son, who was currently holding a piece of paper and a pen.

"Yeah, Percy?"

"I need you to sign this for that seven-day trip I was telling you about last week."

"Are you excited?" she asks, trying to look nonchalant.

"Sort of."

He's not really looking forward to it, mostly because he's never been on a long trip like this without his camp friends. And it's just reminding him of how much he misses them.

"Alright, here you go Perce."

"Thanks," Percy muttered. "Oh, and Mom, I'm going to a friend's house to work on a project. That's okay, right?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Don't forget to call or text me everyday on the trip!" Sally Jackson called after her son as he slammed the door of their apartment shut. She heard an emotionless 'okay' from her son and Sally sat back.

-x-

Percy hesitantly boarded the bus with his fellow classmates. They were about to set off on a weeklong camping trip. The school had forced them to pack light and the only electronic device they were allowed to bring was their cell phone.

Sally watched Percy trudge his way back to the back of the school bus where he sat with his friends, and Sally thought he looked out of place with his mortal friends.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" she asked Paul.

"Come on Sally, he'll be fine. He's got Riptide, so it's not like he's defenseless."

As the bus pulled away, Sally drew a hand and waved goodbye at her son. And it almost broke her heart when Percy didn't wave back.

* * *

**When you were 15, she came home from work, looking for a hug.  
You thanked her by having your bedroom door locked.**

Sally Jackson stalked down the hallway with an air of frustration and annoyance. She knew that even when you had your dream job as a writer, there would still be those annoying little bumps in the road that couldn't be all completely smoothed out, no matter what you did.

Today, she had gotten into an argument with her editor, about the ending of her story.

She really, **really**_**, really**_ wanted a hug right now.

Sighing, Sally unlocked the door, and wandered down the corridor, not really seeing, but simply listening to the slow, sad song that Percy was listening to, and gently tried the door.

Only to find it was locked.

"Percy?" she called out softly, absolutely exhausted.

Silence.

"Percy, please unlock the door," she murmured.

And again, there was no reply.

"Please," Sally said for the final time, in a barely audible tone.

When her son didn't say anything, she softly padded away from the door.

She supposes that she'll have to wait until Paul comes home to get that hug that she wanted.

Percy Jackson is on the other side of the door, writing an essay. He knows that he usually doesn't really work this hard on his homework, but this piece of writing is due in an hour and he hasn't even finished the first paragraph.

He never hears the knock.

* * *

**When you were 16, she taught you how to driver her car.  
You thanked her by taking it every chance you could.**

Paul was the one who had decided that it was time for her son to learn how to drive. After all, he was 16 and was in the legal limit for driving, and he was tall enough.

But you argued that he was impulsive and _could_ crash the car.

"Come on Sally," he argues, "he's already defeated Kronos and everything. It's not like he's going to destroy my car."

He's obviously forgotten the pegasus hoof print incident.

"Besides, we could bond over me teaching him how to drive!" Paul exclaimed excitedly.

Feeling defeated, she reluctantly agrees to have Paul teach Percy how to drive a car.

-x-

It's a few months later, and Percy's finally got his license. Sally and Paul are sitting in the kitchen, discussing Percy's driving.

"He drives fine, what are you worried about?" he asks.

"It's not that," she tells him, "He's just… always taking the car out now."

"So?"

It was just like Paul to be so carefree, something that she honestly wished that she could be.

Apparently raising a demigod made you worry and stress a lot more than raising a normal mortal child.

"Well, it's like he thinks that it's his."

"We can just buy another car. It's fine, money isn't a problem anymore."

"Alright," Sally murmurs halfheartedly.

It's not that she's worried about his taking the car out. It's just that she doesn't like him out there all alone. Maybe it's because she didn't give him the wonderful, normal childhood that every kid should have had, or maybe it's 'cause that she's still being so overprotective.

_Let go,_ she tells herself, _let go.

* * *

_

**When you were 17, she was expecting an important call.  
You thanked her by being on the phone all night.**

_Ring_

Sally picks the phone up, and cradles it between her shoulder and ear as she flips through a novel she's reading.

"Hello?"

Sally instantly recognizes her voice. It's Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend.

"Hello Annabeth," she replies, "Just call me, Sally. You want Percy, right?"

Without waiting for an answer, she calls Percy away from his new laptop (it was an early Christmas present Paul had given Percy a few days ago ago.)

"_Annabeth,"_ Sally mouths, "Please hang up in at least an hour, I'm expecting a call from my editor."

Percy just grabs the phone from her, and begins chatting and laughing with his girlfriend who's across the country, visiting her family.

* * *

**When you were 18, she cried at your high school graduation.  
You thanked her by staying out partying until dawn.**

When it's his graduation, she just can't help but tear up a little, even before it's his turn to receive his diploma. She knows that he can see her from the stage and he's going to get so embarrassed, but she just doesn't think about that now. Her son was finally graduating from high school, and had been accepted into one of the best marine biology universities in the States with a part-scholarship.

Sally Jackson has to admit that Poseidon must have pulled a few strings to get her son into that school.

"Percy Jackson."

After waiting for so long, her son's name is finally called.

"I can't believe he's finally all grown up," Sally sniffles to Paul, who's sitting next to her.

"I know," he whispers back.

When the entire class has graduated, she's the first one to embrace him and it feels like her heart is about to explode with all the love and pride she has for her son.

"I am so proud of you," she tells him.

He just smiles.

It's dawn, and he's finally back from that party. Percy quietly slips into his room, unnoticed. Just like how it was when he left.

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**_Author's Notes:_ Hope you liked that. :) Reviews make my days. Flamers amuse me. Constructive criticism makes me smile. :D**

**-Birdyyy**


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